The following is an excerpt from Practice Perspectives: Vault's Guide to Legal Practice Areas.

Peter Law, Partner—Patent Prosecution, and Doug Wentzel, Partner—Litigation

Peter Law received his J.D. from the University of Utah in 2011 and his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University in 2002. Prior to law school, Peter worked as a nuclear engineer for Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy, designing and operating nuclear power plants on submarines and aircraft carriers. Peter joined Knobbe Martens in 2011 and became a partner in 2018.  

Doug Wentzel received his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2016 and his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Drexel University in 2013. Doug joined Knobbe Martens in 2016 and became a partner in 2023.

Describe your practice area and what it entails.

Peter: I focus on the transactional aspects of intellectual property (IP) law, including patent and trademark prosecution work and advising clients on IP strategy. I help inventors prepare patent applications and apply for patent protection of their ideas, and negotiate with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to obtain patents on their inventions. I advise clients on how best to manage a portfolio of patents to protect their own inventions and how to avoid problems with others’ patents. When someone wants to use our clients’ inventions, I help negotiate a licensing agreement between our client and the other company.

Doug: I am a patent and trade secret litigator. Patent litigation includes cases generally involving the infringement or validity of patents, whereas trade secret litigation generally involves the misappropriation of trade secrets. As an IP litigator, I help innovative clients to assert their IP rights in court and/or to defend against assertions of IP rights by others. I work with my case teams to assist clients with all aspects of litigation, from pleadings to fact and expert discovery (including depositions), claim construction, motion practice (e.g., summary judgment), hearings, trial, and post-trial.

What types of clients do you represent?

Peter: I represent a diverse array of clients, from large corporations to federal government agencies, small startups, and solo inventors. I have represented clients in a variety of technical areas, including pharmaceuticals, oil and gas, nuclear technology, logistics, electrical and computer engineering, fashion, and design.

Doug: I represent companies of all sizes across a broad spectrum of technologies, including wearable health devices, minimally invasive heart repair devices, respiratory therapy products, automotive shock absorbers, microdermabrasion systems, and more.

What types of cases/deals do you work on?

Peter: The largest portion of my practice is supporting our clients’ patent portfolios and protecting their innovations. I work with others at my firm to prosecute patent applications and advocate for our clients at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Often, a client’s business success is dependent on whether they have patent protection. It is a real joy to help secure patents for clients which will enable their company to succeed.

When a client is seeking to acquire a portfolio or company or be acquired, I work on IP diligence. I also work on licensing our clients’ IP to other companies. For example, recently I negotiated an arrangement with a major energy company to license our client’s patent portfolio in a deal that could change the oil refining industry.  

Doug: I work on patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation cases in district courts across the country, on specialized patent infringement cases (called investigations) before the International Trade Commission (ITC), and on other patent proceedings (e.g., Inter Partes Reviews) before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB).

How did you choose this practice area?

Peter: While working as an engineer, I realized I wanted to get more education, but I did not necessarily want to get a Ph.D., because I felt that would narrowly focus my expertise and possibly limit my career choices. So, I chose to go to law school to broaden my career options and acquire new skills. In law school, I understood that my professional engineering background made me uniquely suited for practicing IP law because I could use the legal skills I was acquiring together with my prior engineering skills. With this understanding, it was an obvious choice for me to pursue IP law.

Doug: I was nearing the end of a structural engineering internship when I realized that, while I enjoyed designing buildings, I wanted to use my engineering skills in a way that allowed me to work on a wider variety of technologies. I also wanted my work to leverage my skills and interest in research and writing. I thought that intellectual property law would allow me to combine my skills and interests, so I went to law school already interested in IP. Law school confirmed that I was fascinated by patent and trade secret law, and showed me that litigating cases in these interesting areas of the law is exactly what I was looking for in a career.

What is a typical day like and/or what are some common tasks you perform?

Peter: On a typical day, I work on several tasks—I may work on a patent application for one client, an office action for another client, meet with an inventor, and have a call with a client regarding a strategic matter. I enjoy having a variety of different tasks on any given day. Patent prosecution gives me a chance to work on several different matters for different clients in a day, whereas in a litigation environment, one may spend the day on a single litigation matter.

What training, classes, experience, or skills development would you recommend to someone who wishes to enter your practice area?

Peter: In my work as an engineer, I did not have much writing experience, and the practice of law requires a lot of writing. Also, engineering did not require me to make many presentations or do much public speaking. I recommend engineers and scientists interested in practicing IP law focus on improving their writing and speaking abilities. Inventors and clients really appreciate a lawyer who understands their technology and can explain that technology in clear and compelling language.

What do you like best about your practice area?

Peter: I started as a lawyer working on both IP litigation and prosecution. Over time, I focused my career on IP prosecution, because I found meeting and working with inventors and innovators and protecting their advances in science and technology were the most rewarding aspect of my job. By working closely with inventors, I get to learn about the latest improvements and cutting-edge technologies. I can combine my love of engineering and science with the law to protect and promote innovation.

Doug: I enjoy patent and trade secret litigation because it is so mentally stimulating, and no two days of my work are the same. There are so many new things to learn in each case about the interesting technology and products at issue, and each case has different phases that present complex and interesting issues. I sincerely enjoy working with our clients and my colleagues to create and implement strategies that achieve the best results for clients on every issue and at every phase of a case. Working with and getting to know our innovative clients is fun, and I find advocating for them throughout a case to be a very rewarding career choice.

What is unique about your practice area at your firm?

Peter: Knobbe Martens is an IP boutique, meaning we specialize in all aspects of intellectual property and technology law. Most of our attorneys have technical degrees, and because of this we have someone with knowledge or experience in almost any technical field. When a client needs help in a particular technical area, we can find an attorney with a relevant background.

Also, as an IP boutique where all our attorneys practice IP law, I really enjoy being able to work with a variety of other attorneys in a variety of technical areas. It helps me improve my practice by seeing how so many of my colleagues work.     

Doug: IP litigation is a team sport, and Knobbe Martens does it right. Our case teams are filled with attorneys that are not only great litigators, but great people too. Our litigators are very friendly, approachable, and great mentors, which fosters the collaborative environment that I feel has contributed to our success.

What are some typical tasks that a junior lawyer would perform in this practice area? 

Peter: New associates in patent prosecution start with preparing office action responses, drafting claims, and drafting patent applications. I bring new associates to invention disclosure meetings and to meetings with Patent Office Examiners. I like to get new associates involved with the clients and inventors as soon as possible to help build the relationships and to train new associates on what it takes to be a successful IP lawyer. As new associates progress, they become more involved in strategic planning and managing portfolios of patents.

Doug: New associates in IP litigation can expect to perform legal research and assist with document review, preparing for depositions, writing portions of briefs, and more. There is no shortage of litigation projects for junior associates to handle.

What kinds of experience can summer associates gain in this practice area at your firm?

Peter: We give our summer associates the ability to work on projects in all areas of IP law. We encourage our summer associates to work on prosecution and litigation projects so they can discover what type of practice they want to have as future IP lawyers. We provide formal mentoring through a partner mentor and a host associate. The mentors and hosts are available to answer questions, provide work projects, and counsel our summer associates on being successful IP attorneys.